1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to wagering games, particularly computer based wagering games, computer based wagering games running on an operating system, and methods for developing games on a standard gaming operating system.
2. Background of the Art
Games of chance have been enjoyed by people for thousands of years and have enjoyed increased and widespread popularity in recent times. As with most forms of entertainment, players enjoy playing a wide variety of games and new games. Playing new games adds to the excitement of “gaming.” As is well known in the art and as used herein, the term “gaming” and “gaming devices” are used to indicate that some form of wagering is involved, and that players must make wagers of value, whether actual currency or some equivalent of value, e.g., token or credit. This is an accepted distinction in the art from the playing of games, which implies the lack of value depending upon the outcome and in which skill is ordinarily an essential part of the game. On the contrary, within the gaming industry, particularly in computer based gaming systems, the absence of skill is a jurisdictional requirement in the performance of the gaming play.
One popular gaming system of chance is the slot machine. Conventionally, a slot machine is configured for a player to wager something of value, e.g., currency, house token, established credit or other representation of currency or credit. After the wager has been made, the player activates the slot machine to cause a random event to occur. The player wagers that particular random events will occur that will return value to the player. A standard device causes a plurality of reels to spin and ultimately stop, displaying a random combination of some form of indicia, for example, numbers or symbols. If this display contains one of a pre-selected number of winning symbol combinations, the machine releases money into a payout chute or increments a credit meter by the amount won by the player. For example, if a player initially wagered two coins of a specific denomination and that player achieved a payout, that player may receive the same number or multiples of the wager amount in coins of the same denomination as wagered.
There are many different formats for generating the random display of events that can occur to determine payouts in wagering devices. The standard or original format was the use of three reels with symbols distributed over the face of the reel. When the three reels were spun, they would eventually each stop in turn, displaying a combination of three symbols (e.g., with three reels and the use of a single horizontal payout line as a row in the middle of the area where the symbols are displayed). By appropriately distributing and varying the symbols on each of the reels, the random occurrence of predetermined winning combinations can be provided in mathematically predetermined probabilities. By clearly providing for specific probabilities for each of the pre-selected winning outcomes, precise odds that would control the amount of the payout for any particular combination and the percentage return on wagers for the house could be reasonably controlled.
Other formats of gaming apparatus that have developed in a progression from the pure slot machine with three reels have dramatically increased with the development of video gaming apparatus. Rather than have only mechanical elements such as wheels or reels that turn and stop to randomly display symbols, video gaming apparatus and the rapidly increasing sophistication in hardware and software have enabled an explosion of new and exciting gaming apparatus. The earlier video apparatus merely imitated or simulated the mechanical slot games in the belief that players would want to play only the same games. Early video gaming systems therefore were simulated slot machines. The use of video gaming apparatus to play new gaming applications such as draw poker and Keno broke the ground for the realization that there were many untapped formats for gaming apparatus. Now casinos may have hundreds of different types of gaming apparatus with an equal number of significant differences in play. The apparatus may vary from traditional three reel slot machines with a single payout line, video simulations of three reel video slot machines, to five reel, five column simulated slot machines with a choice of twenty or more distinct pay lines, including randomly placed lines, scatter pays, or single image payouts. In addition to the variation in formats for the play of gaming applications, bonus plays, bonus awards, and progressive jackpots have been introduced with great success. The bonuses may be associated with the play of gaming applications that are quite distinct from the play of the original gaming format, such as the video display of a horse race with “bets” on the individual horses randomly assigned to players that qualify for a bonus, the spinning of a random wheel with fixed amounts of a bonus payout on the wheel (or simulation thereof), or attempting to select a random card that is of higher value than a card exposed on behalf of a virtual “dealer.”
Examples of such gaming apparatus with a distinct bonus feature includes U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,823,874; 5,848,932; 5,836,041; U.K. Patent Nos. 2 201 821 A; 2 202 984 A; and 2 072 395A; and German Patent DE 40 14 477 A1. Each of these patents differs in fairly subtle ways as to the manner in which the bonus round is played. British Patent 2 201 821 A and DE 37 00 861 A1 describe a gaming apparatus in which after a winning outcome is first achieved in a reel-type gaming segment, a second segment is engaged to determine the amount of money or extra games awarded. The second segment gaming play involves a spinning wheel with awards listed thereon (e.g., the number of coins or number of extra plays) and a spinning arrow that will point to segments of the wheel with the values of the awards thereon. A player will press a stop button and the arrow will point to one of the values. The specification indicates both that there is a level of skill possibly involved in the stopping of the wheel and the arrow(s), and also that an associated computer operates the random selection of the rotatable numbers and determines the results in the additional winning game, which indicates some level of random selection in the second gaming segment.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,823,874 and 5,848,932 describe a gaming device comprising:
a first, standard gaming unit for displaying a randomly selected combination of indicia, said displayed indicia selected from the group consisting of reels, indicia of reels, indicia of playing cards, and combinations thereof; means for generating at least one signal corresponding to at least one select display of indicia by said first, standard gaming unit; means for providing at least one discernible indicia of a mechanical bonus indicator, said discernible indicia indicating at least one of a plurality of possible bonuses, wherein said providing means is operatively connected to said first, standard gaming unit and becomes actuatable in response to said signal. In effect, the second gaming event simulates a mechanical bonus indicator such as a roulette wheel or wheel with a pointing element.
A video terminal is another form of gaming device. Video terminals operate in the same manner as a conventional slot and video machine, except that a redemption ticket rather than an immediate payout is dispensed. The processor may be present in the terminal or in a central computer.
The vast array of electronic video gaming apparatus that is commercially available is not standardized within the industry or necessarily even within the commercial line of apparatus available from a single manufacturer. One of the reasons for this lack of uniformity or standardization is the fact that the operating systems that have been used to date in the industry are primitive. As a result, the programmer must often create code for each and every function performed by each individual apparatus.
Attempts have been made to create a universal gaming engine for a gaming machine and are described in Carlson U.S. Pat. No. 5,707,286. This patent describes a universal gaming engine that segregates the random number generator and transform algorithms so that this code need not be rewritten or retested with each new game application. All code that is used to generate a particular game is contained in a rule EPROM in the rules library. Although the step of segregating random number generator code and transform algorithms has reduced the development time of new games, further improvements were needed.
One significant economic disadvantageous feature with commercial video wagering gaming units that maintains an artificially high price for the systems in the market is the use of unique hardware interfaces in the various manufactured video gaming systems. The different hardware, the different access codes, the different pin couplings, the different harnesses for coupling of pins, the different functions provided from the various pins, and the other various and different configurations within the systems has prevented any standard from developing within the technical field. This is advantageous to the equipment manufacturer, because the gaming formats for each system are provided exclusively by a single manufacturer, and the entire systems can be readily rendered obsolete, so that the market will have to purchase a complete unit rather than merely replacement software, and aftermarket gaming designers cannot easily provide a single gaming application that can be played on different hardware.
The invention of computerized gaming systems that include a common or “universal” video wagering game controller that can be installed in a broad range of video gaming apparatus without substantial modification to the gaming apparatus controller has made possible the standardization of many components and of corresponding gaming software within gaming systems. Such systems desirably will have functions and features that are specifically tailored to the unique demands of supporting a variety of gaming applications and gaming apparatus types, and doing so in a manner that is efficient, secure, and cost-effective to operate.
What is desired is an architecture and method of providing a gaming-specific platform that features reduced game development time and efficient gaming operation, provides security for the electronic gaming system, and does so in a manner that is cost-effective for gaming software developers, gaming apparatus manufacturers, and gaming apparatus users. An additional advantage is that the use of the platform will speed the review and approval process for gaming applications with the various gaming agencies, bringing the gaming formats and gaming applications to market sooner.
The nature of gaming systems and the stringent controls applied to gaming systems and gaming applications by jurisdictional controls (e.g., the Nevada State Gaming Commission, the New Jersey State Gaming Commission, the Mississippi State Gaming Commission, the California State Gaming Commission, the United Kingdom Gaming Commission, etc.) makes the development of a standard operating system and the ability of the game developers to work with such gaming operating systems unique within the field of computer based designer/developer interactions.
One of the reasons that Microsoft Windows® became the leading operating system throughout the world for personal computers was based upon its business strategy of providing access to Microsoft Windows® on-line to developers using an Application Program Interface (API) through which developers could communicate with the Windows® operating system, without being able to modify the underlying operating system (OS). This enabled Windows® to be supported by a vast network of private developers so that significant amounts of software became available for Windows® while other competing operating systems (e.g., Mac OS, Unix and Linux) had much fewer numbers of software programs available to use with these systems. However, the Microsoft Windows® operating system was not designed to support gaming systems and does not contain the essential software components needed for a gaming jurisdiction approvable operating system or gaming application.
Some game systems (as opposed to gaming systems) also attempted an on-line approach to assisting developers in using proprietary game operating systems for development of games compatible with the game operating system. One such on-line system was Adventurebuilder, which has apparently been removed from active on-line operation, even though its API addressable OS has been archived at http://archive.wustl.edu.languages/smalltalk/Smalltalk/st80_CastleMS— . . . /CastleMS.s and the entire 195 pages of text can be accessed at that site.
Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 6,181,336 B1 (Chiu et al.) describes a system for providing an integrated, efficient and consistent production environment for the shared development of multimedia productions. Examples of multimedia productions include feature animation films, computerized animation films, interactive video games, interactive movies, and other types of entertainment and/or educational multimedia works. The development of such multimedia products typically involves heterogeneous and diverse forms of multimedia data. Further, the production tools and equipment that are used to create and edit such diverse multimedia data are in and of themselves diverse and often incompatible with each other. The incompatibility between such development tools can be seen in terms of their methods of operation, operating environments, and the types and/or formats of data on which they operate. The common utilities, methods and services disclosed therein, are used to integrate the diverse world of multimedia productions. By using the common utilities, methods and services provided, diverse multimedia production tools can access, store, and share data in a multiple user production environment in a consistent, safe, efficient and predictable fashion.